Young children really love role playing and dressing up. It’s a lot of fun!

Children can easily pretend they are a super hero, cowboy, pirate, witch, fairy, princess, ballerina or mermaid especially when they have the right costume and accessories such as wand, wings and halo when dressing up as a fairy for example.

It is important for children to use their imagination while playing. Dressing up and role playing is one of the best ways to encourage this type of play. According to psychologists and child development experts, role play helps children to develop various beneficial skills that can assist in many areas of their life.

By exploring their imagination and using a form of abstract thinking that role play promotes, the child can improve social skills and problem solving. They also gain the ability to understand the perspective of others even if they are playing alone and just pretending they have a friend with them. Yes, having an imaginary friend is quite normal and healthy for young children.

It is believed by many child development experts that dress up games and role playing can even improve a childs intelligence. During role playing the child engages emotion, cognition, language and sensory motor skills at the one time which is an excellent form of positive stimulus for the brain.

Therefore, encourage young children, especially under the age of 10, to dress up in their favourite dress up costumes and let their imagination run wild. It really is more than just good fun!